Seoul City is a perfect example of a city with diverse social identity where traditional meets modernity, cultural mixes with contemporary, and authenticity creates fusion with global influence. Getting around this city is much easier when you have these things in your travel bag.

Travel book

Buy a reliable and comprehensive travel book in your local bookstores. Don’t be deceived by how big or thick the book is! Sometimes the lightest ones contain the most brief yet most helpful information. However, if you’re on a tight budget, you can opt for travel books and brochures available at the airport of your destination. For instance upon arrival at Incheon International Airport, there’s a tourist information center that gives brochures, maps, and travel guide book. It will cost you zilch!

This card can be easily bought at vending machines installed in Incheon International Airport. It’s your key to a fast access to Seoul’s beautiful tourist attractions. It’s as easy as tap & go.

Subway Map

Riding the train is the fastest and cheapest way to get you to the listed places on your itinerary. There’s a total of 19 subway train lines that Seoul City has, and another one is under construction today. The technique to easily comprehend how the subway system works, is to own an updated Seoul City Subway map. Install an application on your phone for a handy map, but bring a printed map for emergency purposes (e.g. dead battery).

Brave Seoul

Korean cuisine is presented with delectable dishes that most of which carry a hot and spicy flavor. Indulging yourself with a store-bought ramyun is a good practice to survive it. Although honestly, I limited myself from ordering the extremely spicy ones lol.

The local currency of South Korea is Won (₩). Roughly $1 is equal to ₩1000. You need not to worry about money exchange, for money changers are abundant in the city. As a general rule, always be ready with your passport.

Wi-Fi on-the-go

Although this is optional since almost 100% of establishments in Seoul provides Wi-Fi, but not all of them are free. Especially when you go to attractions situated in the province, the best way to have a consistent Wi-Fi connection is to own this.

Price: ₩9,900 for 4 days of unlimited use

Electric adaptor

The Land of the Morning Calm uses 220V/60hz. So if your country doesn’t use similar voltage, stay calm, convenience stores and malls is the best answer to the question, “Where can I buy electric adaptor in Seoul?”. Below is my 3-in-1 handy and convenient adaptor.

You can keep it like this

Useful survival words & phrases

Annyeong Haseyo! Language barrier is evidently present in South Korea. Based on my experience, about 1 to 3 persons is needed to successfully have an answer to my inquiry. However, this is a case to case basis. So, I would suggest you prepare a list of Korean words & phrases like this one I did below.

Subway Korea (app)

In relation to essential #3, the best smartphone application I used as a guide to tour around Seoul and other cities of South Korea. The best part there is it’s free and easy to download!

Those are so helpful when traveling in Korea! Seoul is so huge and can be overwhelming. I have a lot of budget travel and practical tips about travel in Korea after 3 years of living there if you want to check them out!

Hi, Chedric! When are you gonna post your actual travel itinerary for your budgeted 15k Seoul trip? and how did you managed to visit the tourist destinations, is it easy to ask around locals how and where to get there? Is the tourist places near each other? Thanks for this Chedric!

Hi Jeff! Thanks for your interest on the itinerary. It will be up on my site in no time. Two ways to manage it: subway train and lots of brisk walking. With regard to asking directions, to tell you honestly it’s a case-to-case basis. Some locals are knowledgeable of the spots, some are not that much. I suggest you do an intensive research of your favored attractions. Stay tuned!

Hi Ellaine! Thanks for dropping by. When you buy the prepaid wifi, posted at the back of the card is the procedure on how to activate your subscription. You just have to go to a certain link, then type in the log-in details on the website. Yes, it has an English translation. Safe and fun travels!

Hi Nad, yes the prepaid wifi has a speedy internet connection although it is dependent on the router installations in an area. Honestly, the connection loses sometimes. No, you don’t need to buy a prepaid sim for this. It’s like a router on-the-go. Thanks for reading!

Hi Patty! You can buy the Olleh prepaid wifi card at 7-Eleven stores. I was a first-timer as well, and survived it by prepping different sets of winter clothes. Scarf and gloves are a must! Hope you enjoy your future trip to Seoul. Ahh how I miss!